1 Corinthians 1 – 2
Verse 1:10 opens with a warning to Christians not to get caught up in personalities:
My brothers and sisters, I urge you by the name of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed, to come together in agreement. Do not allow anything or anyone to create division among you. Instead, be restored, completely fastened together with one mind and shared judgment.
This is a hard line since there are many great teachers and often we get into almost a cult following them. We need to know that it’s about Jesus and not Billy Graham, Pat Robinson, Joel Osteen or Creflo Dollar. In our own community here in Atlanta we have many huge churches with awesome teachers. I know my church, 12 Stone, get accused of being a cult since every campaign gets seen throughout the community. Another I recently attended was Mars Hill in Portland. In both cases the teaching is awesome and on point, but often I wonder do many get wrapped up in the “cult of personality”?
Preachers have a tough job with this as their church grows to make sure the people are following Jesus and not them. It’s hard not to get wrapped up in the fame when you can fill an arena as I have seen with Joyce Meyers. Suddenly people are wrapped up in your fame and less on the teaching. For you personally, find good Bible teaching teachers and follow Jesus first.
Verse 1:18 give you some understanding on why people think we are nuts sometimes:
For people who are stumbling toward ruin, the message of the cross is nothing but a tall tale for fools by a fool. But for those of us who are already experiencing the reality of being rescued and made right, it is nothing short of God’s power.
Honestly, the story is unbelievable when you think about it. This thing we call God made everything, then focused on a family that grew but was rebellious. It had murder, adultery, parting of large bodies of water, healing of sick, raising of the dead and a homeless guy who gets executed only to come back and save the world. If you don’t know God this is a “tale for fools.” One thing that people have a hard time with is why not today! Why is this kind of stuff not happening today? Maybe it is and like when the people walked across dry ground in the Red Sea only to rebel shortly thereafter.
If God didn’t realize that personal change and experience is the way to man’s heart, not a grand spectacle, we would have more people walking on water and parting the seas to prove to themselves over and over that God is real. No this story becomes real when you realize it is and can see past the science and live in the glory.
Verses 2:15 & 16 are ones I marked and circled:
15 A person who walks by the Spirit examines everything, sizing it up and seeking out truth. But no one is able to examine or size up that kind of spiritual person, 16 for the Scripture asks, “Does anyone know the mind of the Lord well enough to become His advisor?” But we do possess the mind of the Anointed One.
First thing is we need to have childlike faith, so what does that mean? Think about what we are taught, that childlike faith is not questioning anything concerning a story and just accepting it like a child. But for those who have children we know what it looks like. Sure they may accept something for a short time, but the litany of questions that follow solidifies this verse. So ask, pray and keep asking. Don’t look at the pastor as an orator, but rather a teacher who can answer questions. If something stumps you keep asking.
Personally it took almost thirty years of being a Christian to understand and accept the “trinity”. Up to that point I assumed it was more to reconcile the fact we were not to worship any other God, while we worshiped Jesus. So therefore Jesus had to be God or we would be in violation of one of the 10 Commandments. I took the Bible as literal, where God was Jesus’s father and they were two different beings. Well you’ll have to get my book to understand how I reconciled it, but now I understand through Quantum Mechanics that they are one in the same.
The other thing I note is verse 16 where we don’t have the mind of God, but we do possess the one of Jesus. This again is hard to reconcile with the trinity, but again we have the image of God or his energy. The mind of Jesus is the soft quiet voice that leads us through each day.